Notebook makers feel price squeeze

Price drops drive notebook sales, but also put pressure on profits

Sales of notebook computers have enjoyed 43.6 per cent year-over-year growth, but the average price of the units has dropped by nearly 20 per cent, according to new data from analyst firm Current Analysis. 

The study of US retail laptop sales for the first quarter of 2006 found that the average price of a notebook slipped below the $1,000 price barrier for the first time.

Nicole D'Onofrio, mobile computing analyst at Current Analysis, said that HP claimed the top spot with 37 per cent market share for retail sales, but lost one percentage point in overall market share.

Toshiba and Gateway took second and third places respectively. 

Media Center notebooks are a fast growing sector in the US retail channel. Systems running Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) captured 16 per cent of the overall retail notebook market.

D'Onofrio attributed the success to price cuts after system makers removed the integrated TV tuner and switched to AMD processors. 

AMD enjoyed a 78 per cent market share in the mobile MCE segment. But Intel is catching up, showing a six point gain on its closest rival in March to reach an overall share of 27.5 per cent.